Jill Lear is a painter whose primary subject and inspiration are trees in the landscape as a means of transcribing not only the experience of being in, and thinking about Nature but also the way in which we process the world around us. Jill’s large-scale works on paper have been exhibited in San Francisco, New York, Seattle and Austin. Her work has been acquired by the permanent collections at Wright State University Art Museum Dayton, OH as well as the Philip Isles Collection, NY. Jill trained formally at the New York Studio School NY, NY and holds degrees from both Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX as well as The Chambre Syndicale of Haute Couture in Paris, France. She is currently at work on a series called "Witness Trees of Texas"

ARTIST STATEMENT

It starts with a single tree in the landscape; assigned its latitude andlongitude. Then the investigation begins. A transcription of not onlythe experience of being in and thinking about Nature, but also aboutthe way in which we process the world around us, literally.From the particular, the place itself: a topographic study involvingmeasurement, proportion, negative space, positive forms. To thegeneral: the idea of the thing rather than the thing itself, territory, light,space, sound.Then, by subtraction, painting the experience of being there, lettingonly the major lines and colors of the landscape remain until, like thetree, its significance survives. A kind of modern map of an old world.And like maps, the paintings invite investigation into their whitespaces by what they suggest and by what they hide.